PSLF is a separate program from Biden’s one-time student debt forgiveness initiative. Status of widespread student debt forgiveness

Borrowers don’t need to do anything for this relief. This will put more borrowers closer to attaining PSLF, or in some cases, result in them having their balance forgiven and even eligible for a refund, depending on how many payments they’ve made. More payments will count toward loan forgiveness for those in PSLF or on income-driven repayment plans. Borrowers would be eligible for forgiveness if they made 120 on-time payments.Īdditionally, the Education Department is undertaking a one-time account adjustment for borrowers with a Direct Loan. This includes those who were enrolled in the wrong repayment track, or those who made late or incomplete payments. The waiver allowed qualifying borrowers to receive credit for all payments they made on their loans.

Under Biden, the Education Department has made a number of changes since then to make it easier to actually attain forgiveness, including offering a one-time waiver to retroactively broaden the types of loans and payments that are eligible for relief. That’s due not only to the complicated nature of the application process, but also because of mishaps on part of the student loan servicer. Those who have worked full-time in a qualifying public service job for at least 10 years and have made 120 on-time payments the entire time can apply for the remainder of their debt to be forgiven, tax-free.īut the program has long not lived up to borrower expectations: Though it’s existed for years, just 7,000 people had been approved for forgiveness before Biden took office, according to the Education Department. The PSLF program was created to encourage people to take jobs in fields like education, health care, law enforcement, and nonprofit work. That includes nearly 610,000 borrowers who have seen their debt already discharged. Department of Education announced Monday. More than 615,000 borrowers have had $42 billion total in student loan debt forgiven via temporary changes made to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) process since October 2021, the U.S.

The borrowers afloat